Katie Martin
BA Fine Art
As a young man, my dad was incredibly active and knowledgeable about his interactions with landscapes and wildlife; it was integral to the core of his existence. Unfortunately, over 20 years ago he was diagnosed with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis, a degenerative immune disease that affects his mobility and causes intense pain. Since that point he has had to give up physically interacting with the landscape entirely, but still managed to push himself to instill these same passions into me as a child. This project started as a personal exploration into why I love the landscape, but ended with me reconciling the relationship my father has with nature and attempting to put him back into the landscape, whilst also highlighting the impossibility and absurdity of him ever truly being there again. This is a project built on raw emotion and passion for a subject that spans generations.